Unknown: Hogwarts
by mai321lunatic
Summary: AU: Fem!Harry. They expected her to hate him - despise him for being the Boy-Who-Lived and taking to attention away from her; to join Voldemort and become a Dark Witch. But that night, a bond was established and it would not be broken so easily. She would not abandon her little brother like the rest of the world did to her.


**Summary:** Daniel Potter is the Boy-Who-Lived. His father has always kept him in the Potter Manor unless the Weasleys, his Uncles or James himself brought him out so Dan was basically raised isolated from the rest of the world; only allowed contact with people his father agreed with.

Now, Dan is about the enter his first year of Hogwarts. Though he despairs at the thought of being in a school full of children who go all starry-eyed at his sky or who have Death Eater parents that wish to kill him, Dan's going to make new friends that will help him in the coming war.

And his sister is close behind.

* * *

Hogwarts: Year 1

Dan double- and triple-checked his luggage, making sure that he didn't forget about anything.

Since he had spent his life isolated within the Pottor manor and its surrounding area, baring his trips with the Weasleys, this would be Dan's first time he'd be able to go around without his father being there, right next to him, and Dan didn't want to owl his father for anything he may have forgotten. He didn't even care that he would be in a whole school with children who got starry-eyed and fawned over him because of something he didn't do.

Everyone in the wizarding world expected the Boy-Who-Lived to be exactly as his father had been when James had gone to Hogwarts. While Dan did like pranks, he wasn't like his father in the way that James tortured only one group of students. Pranks were made for fun – to put smiles on people's faces – not to humiliate innocent people. Lea had made sure to hammer that rule into his and the twins heads whenever she caught them planning.

Thinking of Lea, Dan smiled sadly. It had been seven years since Lea had been shipped off by James and it had made Dan hate his father. James never seemed to notice, still taking him to interviews where he couldn't say anything he wanted and public outings, making sure that he was seen with Dan at all times.

His thoughts were interrupted by a tapping on his window and he grinned, opening the window for Hedwig to fly in. Once she landed on the headboard of his bed, Dan was suddenly engulfed in a hug and he welcomed it.

The only hugs that Dan ever got were from Mrs Weasley, which felt like she was trying to suffocate him, and Ginny, which was more her pouncing and latching onto his arms. His father had never hugged him and if he had, than Dan didn't remember. But when Lea hugged him, he felt safe.

'Hey, kiddo,' Lea sat, sitting on his bed, her legs up and her back against the head board. 'How you've been?'

Dan shrugged. 'Haven't left the house like usual.'

Lea raised an eyebrow. 'Aren't you exited to be going to Hogwarts?'

'Sure, I am,' Dan said. 'But then I'll have to act _all_ the time.'

'Hogwarts has a lot of secret passages and rooms – find one and relax.' She moved aside to allow Dan to get into bed. 'Neville will be there too, so at least you'll have help.'

Lea went around the room, blowing out the candles until only the one that sat on Dan's side table was lit. She went back over to Dan and sat down, running her hand through Dan's dual coloured hair as his breath evened out.

_Deep in the meadow, under the willow_

_A bed of grass, a soft green pillow_

_Lay down your head, and close your eyes_

_And when they open, the sun will rise_

.

'Hey, mate,' someone said as they shook him awake.

'Go away. . .' Dan mumbled, waving his hand at the person.

'Come on, mate,' the person persisted. 'It's almost midnight – Malfoy, the duel – remember?'

Dan turned his head to face Ron and glared at him. 'Do you honestly think that Malfoy would actually come?'

'Huh?' Ron said stupidly, finally stopped shaking him.

'He's a Slytherin, Ron,' Dan explained slowly. 'He's house is known for cunning – he's gonna send Filch after us.'

Ron huffed. 'You're just a coward. If you're gonna stay, fine. But I'm going to show up or else we'll never hear the end of it if he does show up and we didn't. There's Gryffindor pride on the line, mate!'

Dan groaned, rolling around and shooed Ron. 'Go if you want to. I'm going back to sleep.'

Ron gapped before turning around and marching off, somehow not waking up the others as he left the room. Dan lay in bed, trying to get to sleep but it seemed to be eluding him now that he was awake, thinking about what had led to this moment.

Dan had been sorted into Gryffindor like everyone expected along with Ron, Neville and a muggle-born named Hermione Granger that he had met on the train who was pretty much a know-it-all even though she had just been introduce to the magical communities. Potions had not been nice like Dan had expected with Severus Snape as the teacher and Professor Mcgonagall had appointed him seeker after an incident during their first flying lesson with the Slytherins. Malfoy had confronted him, thinking Dan would be kicked out of Hogwarts and in a fit of anger, after he discovering Dan was not leaving, Malfoy challenged Dan to a wizard's duel at midnight, with Ron oh so helpfully volunteering as his second.

Dan sighed before getting out of bed and following after Ron. He knew he'd get in trouble for this but even if Ron was an annoying git that followed him around like a duckling; Dan was still worried about him since he knew that Malfoy hated Ron so much more than he hated Dan.

He went to the designated place and found Ron, Hermione – who was scolding him – and, surprisingly, Neville who shifted and glanced around nervously.

'Hermione,' Dan called, drawing attention to himself. 'What are you doing here?'

'I thought the both of you were actually stupid enough to come to this duel,' she said. 'But obviously I was wrong about you.' She looked at Ron in distaste. 'Though I was definitely right about this one.'

'And why are you here, Neville?'

'I w-wanted to s-stop him b-but. . .' he trailed off.

'It's okay, Neville,' Dan said, patting him on the back. He turned to Ron. 'Can you see that Malfoy's not going to show up?'

'It hasn't been an hour yet,' Ron complained. 'He's probably being all high and mighty, thinking he can come late to a duel _he_ challenged.'

Dan sighed tiredly. 'Well, I'm going back. Stay here if you want. You coming, Neville? Hermione?' The two nodded in agreement and followed Dan back to their dorms. Ron hesitated but followed the trio, grumbling the whole way.

Suddenly, they froze when they heard a cat meow and saw the distinct shadow of a cat approaching. They began to panic, except Hermione who unlocked the nearest door and pushed the boys in, shutting the door behind them as they heard Filch's voice telling Mrs Norris to lead him to the rule breakers.

'I told you it was a trap,' Dan hissed to Ron.

'No you didn't,' Ron hissed back.

'I told you that Malfoy would tell Filch – that equals trap.'

'Boys!' Hermione admonished.

'Um. . .guys,' Neville said timidly, the only one who was actually facing the room instead of the door. The other three turned to see what Neville was pointing at and saw a giant, black, three-headed dog growling at them.

Before they could scream, the three heads whipped to the side as they followed a giant red ball that rolled across the room. It whimpered, like it was trying to decide whether it should chase after the ball or stay put.

'I'd advise you leave immediately,' a voice said beside them and they didn't hesitate to open the door and follow the advice.

Once they were far enough from the room, they stopped to catch their breath. Dan looked up when he felt someone beside him and gapped.

'Why are you breaking curfew?' the transparent Lea asked to the group, winking at Dan.

Neville looked confused while Ron and Hermione gulped. 'You see- there- Malfoy –' Ron stuttered.

Lea sighed. 'Go back to your dorms – you're lucky it was me who found you instead of one of the teachers.'

'What the bloody hell was that?' Ron asked.

'Isn't it obvious?' Hermione asked. 'It's a Cerberus. We were in the third corridor – you know the one that Prof Dumbledore told us we were forbidden to enter. And weren't you paying attention to want it was standing on?'

'If you hadn't notice, that thing had three heads!' Ron exclaimed and they shushed him. He huffed before turning back to Lea and demanded, 'What the hell are you?'

Lea raised an eyebrow. 'I'm a ghost,' she said, indicating her transparent body. 'I believe the question you're meant to be asking is _who_ the hell are you?'

'Honestly, Ron,' Hermione sighed, whacking over the head. 'Where are your manners? And either way, it doesn't matter. I'm going to head back before you get us killed. Or worse, expelled.'

'Her priorities are in a mix, aren't they,' Lea commented even as Ron grumbled and followed after her.

'Lea,' Dan said, 'what are you doing here?'

'I said I was going to visit, didn't I?' Dan shook his head. 'Well, sorry about that. Hogwarts is large and it's full of magic – I was curious about the secrets it held.'

'Do you know her, Dan?' Neville asked.

Dan looked at Lea and she nodded. 'This is my sister – Azalea. You remember the girl that used to watch over you in the bookstore?'

Neville though it over and slowly nodded. Then he jerked, 'She was your sister? You have a sister? She's dead?'

'Yes, yes, no,' Lea said. 'Not dead: just transparent. Give me a minute.' Lea closed her eyes and she slowly began to look more solid. 'There – much better. It's hard being in between the astral and physical plane like that.' She looked out the window at the moon when Dan yawned. 'It's getting late. You should head back.'

Dan nodded and yawned again. 'You'll be back?'

'Of course,' she said, leading the boys back to the moving staircases. It was while following her that Dan noticed that she had made sure to avoid any of the portraits and seemed to stay completely to the shadows.

When she told them to go on, he asked, 'Why are you avoiding the portraits?'

'Because they're the eyes of the Headmaster,' Lea answered. 'I don't want my presence known or to be watched constantly. And the Headmaster might try to prevent me from coming and going as I like.'

'Would Prof Dumbledore really do that?' Neville asked doubtfully.

Lea shrugged. 'Maybe, maybe not. But I can't be monitored or bound since this is only astral projection – I have a body to return to.'

Neville nodded and Dan waved goodbye as Lea vanished.

.

'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi,' a confused voice said from behind Daniel. 'What language at that?'

Dan turned and found Lea. He shrugged. 'I don't know.'

She began muttering under her breath, trying different ways to write the inscription. She kept glancing at the mirror and back until she finally said, 'I show. . .not. . .your. . .face. . .but your. . .hearts. . .desire.'

Lea looked at him. 'What are you seeing?'

'Us,' Dan answered, 'mom, father, Padfoot and Moony. No fame, expectations – just a happy family. We're having a picnic.'

'Hmm. . .I see the same thing,' she revealed. 'No. Wait.' She squinted at the mirror. 'James is strung up by his ankles – naked – from a tree. Moony had wolf ears and tail and he and Padfoot are running and dodging spells as Lily, who has an afro, chases him.'

Dan grinned as Lea described what she saw, though he wasn't sure if it was true or not. 'What are we doing?'

She looked at him and grinned. 'We're drawing pictures on James and covering Snape in sand, all but his head as we read from potion books as if we're talking to a child.'

'Oh, he'd hate that!' Dan laughed and Lea joined in.

'So what's happened?' Lea asked, sitting down.

'Nothing much,' Dan said, sitting down. 'We won the first match against Slytherin and a troll got into the school.'

Lea frowned. 'What?'

Dan told her about their Halloween when Quirrell had burst into the Great Hall, screaming about trolls in the dungeons before he fainted. Dumbledore ordered the prefects to escort the students to the dorms ('That's stupid!' Lea exclaimed. 'The Slytherin dormitories are in the dungeons! And what if the troll got out of the dungeons and a group of student encountered it! He should've kept them in the Great Hall! Safest place on earth, my ass!') but Hermione didn't know since she had been crying in the bathrooms when she overheard Ron saying she didn't have any friends ('That git!') after she had helped him in Charms. Dan went to go warn her, bringing an unwilling Ron to apologize, but they were trapped in the bathroom when the troll came. They were able to defeat it by dropping its own club on top of it.

'Smart boy!' Lea cried, ruffling his hair. He pushed her off and attempted to fix his hair, though he knew it was hopeless. 'Wished I could've been there to help but I can't cast magic in astral mode so I wouldn't have been much use.'

'That's okay,' Dan said in a posh voice. 'The Boy-Who-Lived was there to save the day!'

Lea grinned and ruffled his hair again. She checked her watch and stood up, helping Daniel up. 'You should go back. It's getting late.' She handed over his invisibility cloak which had somehow appeared next to her when Daniel was sure that it had been behind him. 'I don't think you should come here anymore, Dan. It's bad to dwell on dreams and forget to live.'

Then she was gone.

.

'You have got to be kidding me?!' Malfoy yelled. 'The Forbidden Forest is dangerous!'

'Oh, pish posh,' Hagrid said. 'It's perfectly safe and I'll be there.'

'You just told us to split up!'

'Yes, well, the forest is big and we need to find this unicorn fast. You'll have Fang with you, anyway – though he is a bit of a coward.' Hagrid muttered the last bit but Malfoy still heard him.

'What's the matter, Malfoy?' Ron taunted. 'Scared?'

Malfoy sneered at him before straightening up and marching into the forest, forgetting his previous fear. Dan sighed and followed him and Fang, Neville wishing him luck and Ron telling him to leave Malfoy there.

Dan, Ron and Hermione had discovered that Hagrid was in possession of a dragon which is illegal. They were able to convince him that it was a bad idea to keep the dragon – he lived in a wooden house of Merlin's sake! – and they hatched a plan to get the baby dragon to Ron's brother, Charlie who worked at a dragon reserve. They were caught by Prof Magonagall because Malfoy had found out and snitched on them. Ron, Dan, Hermione, who was their lookout, and Neville, who had overheard Malfoy and had tried to help, had been given detention, along with Draco since she believes that he had been lying about the dragon egg. The detention was with Hagrid who wanted them to help him find an injured unicorn. In the Forbidden Forest. At night.

Dan was the first to notice the thick, golden substance. He urged Malfoy to follow him and they found the unicorn – alive but barely. Before he could tell Malfoy to get Hagrid, he felt an agonizing pain in his scar and cried out. Malfoy screamed and ran off, Fang right behind him and leaving Dan alone to face the shadowy figure lifted its head from where it had been drinking a puddle of unicorn blood.

The shadowy figure began to slowly approach him. Or, more likely, the unicorn to drink more of its blood. The agonizing pain in Dan's scar increased and he screamed, feeling like he was about to lose consciousness.

However, he was able to stay awake long enough to see a rock slam into the side of the figures face. Dan turned and saw Lea in a nightgown, throwing and catching a rock in her hand before throwing it again with startling accuracy.

The figure hissed and charged at Lea, moving much faster than it had previously been when its target had been the unicorn behind Dan. Lea dodged the figure and kicked it in the stomach, launching it across the clearing. While Lea couldn't use magic in astral mode, it didn't mean she still couldn't pack a punch.

It hissed again but changed targets, shooting towards Dan, the pain increasing again. Lea cried out but her attention was drawn to the sound of clattering hooves and something jumped over the figure, standing in front of Dan. The figure stopped its attack and retreated, obviously afraid of the centaur.

Lea ran over to Dan and checked him over. She then looked over the unicorn when she saw that Dan was fine, other than a headache, and winced at the condition the creature was in. Lea turned to the centaur.

'Do you have a knife?' she asked.

The centaur looked at her in suspicion. 'I'm not going to hurt it, honest,' she promised.

He looked her over before handing her over a knife. Lea went over to the unicorn's horn and began to shave it, collecting the dust with her nightgown. When she was done, she gathered up the dust and went over to the unicorn's wound. Lea began to slowly sprinkle the dust onto the wound and it began to mend and the unicorn began to breathe easier.

'That was very wise,' the centaur praised.

'What did you do, Lea?' Dan asked.

'Unicorns are the essence of magic,' Lea said. 'Most of their power is held within their horns and dust from it can be used to cast spells or heal.'

'That is true,' the centaur said. He looked between the two children. 'What are doing in the Forbidden Forest so late at night?'

'I was here for my detention,' Dan answered. 'We were helping Hagrid find the injured unicorn.'

He looked at Lea. She shrugged and indicated to her nightgown. 'I went to sleep and woke up here. It's happened a few times, usually when there's something I need to know.' She frowned and turned to Dan. 'Was that thing drinking the unicorn's blood?'

'Yeah,' he said. He saw her frown deepen. 'What's wrong?'

'It is a monstrous thing to slay a unicorn,' Lea said. 'The blood of a unicorn could save your life even if you were on the verge of death but then you would have killed a pure and defenceless creature to save yourself: that has consequences.'

'She is right, child,' the centaur confirmed. 'You would have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touched your lips. Only one who has nothing to lose and everything to gain would commit such a crime.'

'But who would be that desperate?' Daniel asked. 'And since the unicorn's alive, does it still count?'

Lea shook her head. 'I don't know, but it doesn't sound good, does it?'

Her attention was then drawn to the unicorn which nuzzled her head. Lea smiled and stood along with the unicorn. It began to run around the clearing, testing itself to see its strength and whinnied excitedly. It returned to Lea and clopped its hoof on the ground.

Lea cocked her head. 'You want me to get on?' The unicorn nodded its head and then lowered itself to her level to allow Lea on. Lea blinked but got on after it whinnied again.

She turned to the centaur. 'Could you escort Dan out of the forest? Apparently, he wants to bring me somewhere and won't take no for an answer.'

The centaur's face showed that he was shocked but nodded in reply to Lea's request. He allowed Dan onto his back and nodded in respect to her. Lea waved and Dan waved back tiredly as they went their separate ways.

.

Quirrel charged and Daniel froze in fear. But before Quirrel reached him, Lea appeared out of nowhere and kicked Quirrel off course.

'Go!' she screamed at him. Making sure that the philosopher's stone was still in his pocket, he made his way to the fire wall but then he heard Quirrel yell, 'Expelliarmus!'

Daniel turned as Lea yelped as she was blown across the room and flew past him. When Daniel turned to see if she was alright but found that she was already gone. He turned back to face Quirrel but he already had his hands around his neck.

Ron had been obsessed with what the Cerberus was guarding and Hermione's search for knowledge caused her to join him. They discovered that the Cerberus belonged to Hagrid, which he named Fluffly ('What a ridiculous name for a Cerberus,' Lea had commented), and it was guarding something from a Nicholas Flamel. Further research discovered that what Fluffy was guarding was the Philosopher's Stone and that someone – Snape – was attempting to steal it, just like they accused Snape of jinxing his broom during the first Quidditch match (which Dan didn't believe because Snape still owed his father a life debt).

Hermione deducted that 'Snape' would go after the stone tonight since Dumbledore was currently out of the castle and they had went down to prevent him, breaking through ridiculously easy defences. Ron was injured in a chess game and Hermione had gone to get help, leaving Dan alone to face the thief – Quirrel and a shade of Voldemort stuck on the back side of his head.

Dan clawed at Quirrel's hands around his neck but then Quirrel screamed and pulled his hands away. When Dan looked, he saw that, somehow, Quirrel's skin was burning. Voldemort ordered him to ignore the pain and get the stone but Dan was already placing his hands on Quirrel's face, watching in horror as Quirrel's skin burned where Dan had placed his hand.

Quirrel screamed and Dan screamed along with him, the agonizing pain in his scar came back. Dan crumbled to the ground, his eyes growing heavy as he stared, dazed, at the pile of ash that use to be Quirrel, watching as a wraith floated out of it before everything went dark.

.

_Here it's safe, and here it's warm_

_Here the daisies guard you from every harm_

_Here your dreams are sweet–_

_–and tomorrow brings them true_

_Here is the place where I love you._

Dan woke up to the sound of Lea singing. He opened his eyes to see the white ceiling of the Hogwarts Hospital Wing and the curtains drawn around his bed. He turned his head to face Lea and she stopped singing when she realized that he was awake.

'Sorry I left you there,' she apologized. 'It was one of my dream projections and they're easier to break than astral projection – couldn't immediately come back without the exact destination and Hedwig would have taken too long to get to you.'

At the mention of Hedwig, Dan finally noticed her perched on the chair along with the piles of candy left at his side table. He turned back to Lea and she placed something over his head, letting it hang off his neck.

Dan looked at it and saw that it was a feather. He looked at Lea in confusion.

'It's one of Hedwig's feathers,' Lea explained. 'I've placed a bit of my magic in it so if I ever do a dream projection and then get knocked back into my body, I can astral project back to you.'

'And you never thought of this before?' Dan asked. 'Hedwig wouldn't have had to fly across every time you wanted to visit.'

Hedwig hooted and nipped Dan's ear. Lea laughed. 'I couldn't really use her to be a messenger owl since I had no one to write to except you and she didn't like not having anything to do other than wake me up in the morning.'

Dan smiled but then he heard the sound of footsteps. 'I've got to go,' Lea announced quietly and she was gone.

The curtain was drawn back to reveal the grandfatherly face of Headmaster Dumbledore with that annoying little twinkle in his eyes.

'Ah, my boy. . .'


End file.
